


Aquaphobia

by The_Mishamigo



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Aquaphobia, Drowning, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Panic Attacks, Peter Parkers Needs A Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-22
Updated: 2020-12-22
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:40:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28249281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Mishamigo/pseuds/The_Mishamigo
Summary: Peter is terrified of water after a mission gone wrong. Tony tries to help him.
Relationships: Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Comments: 2
Kudos: 39





	Aquaphobia

Tony had told him to stay away from the villain of the month, but Peter couldn’t help himself. In the corner of his eye, he saw the blur of a red cape (the outfit of that man they were fighting). He glanced over at Steve, who was placed on ‘babysitting duty’ for this mission. They told him that wasn’t the case, but Peter knew it was. He was never allowed to go out on his own. He waited for Steve to preoccupied before jumping up, swinging after the man. 

Peter cursed, realising he had just followed the villain into the heart of the battle. The Iron Man suit locked eyes with him. Peter could tell through the armour that he was angry. Peter, however, ignored it. He wanted to prove to Tony that he could be good. 

Peter screamed as he fell. He knew it was a lost cause; nobody could hear him. Nobody was there, they were all far away as the fight moved on. He tried to shoot a web to a nearby tree, but nothing worked. He kept falling. He wasn’t afraid of heights, he couldn’t be, but something about the floor growing closer frightened him to a point where he could’ve been sick. He gulped as he looked down, he was falling straight towards the ocean. 

Plummeting into the cold water, Peter never felt so scared. He fell deep, his leg getting caught on one of the rocks. He tried to pull it out, but he felt too weak. The wounds from the previous fight were stinging from the salt water. That pain was easily forgotten as his throat filled with water. He tried to breathe. He couldn’t. He was hyperventilating but all that resulted in that was the bubbles that floated over his face, taunting him. He moved his arms in large movements, trying to get to the surface. He kicked and kicked and kicked at the water surrounding him. The way he kicked was childlike, as if he were having a tantrum. He knew, after all, that he was just a kid and that he was going to die; never to reach adulthood. The pressure on his back, on his leg, on everything, was too much. The suit weighted him down, making him want to rest. As he took a quick rest, his body started to give up. He stopped failing around. This was it. He looked up at the sun through the water and closed his eyes. He was going to die, forgotten. His Aunt wouldn’t even find his body. It would eventually float to the bottom of the ocean, hidden in the dark abyss.

But he didn’t. He thought he took his last breath. Suddenly, he felt himself flying up. His eyes opened, only just a bit. He heard jets but, he couldn’t figure out what was going on. His body left the water. As soon as he got out of the waves, he took the biggest gasp of breath he could. He coughed. Water left his throat, up into the mask of his suit. He turned his head and saw the glaring eyes of one of the Iron Man suits. 

When Peter woke up, he was surrounded by his teammates. His mask was discarded across the room. Tony was leant over him, his hands over his chest. CPR, Peter thought. He almost died. He blinked a few times, took a few deep breaths to remind himself he wasn’t underneath the water. Before he could speak, Tony was shouting.

“What the hell were you thinking?!” Tony screamed, getting off his knees. He took Peter’s arm and hauled him up, sitting him on the nearby desk. “I told you, Peter! I told you to stay with Steve, but you just HAD to be the hero and follow the one person I told you to stay away from!”

“I was just trying to hel-,” 

“Well, you didn’t!” Tony shouted; his brows furrowed. “You didn’t help! You almost got yourself killed trying to show off! You’re grounded, you’re not coming on a mission for as long as it takes for me to get over this.” 

Tony’s hand was clenched. Peter’s eyes fell to his mentor’s hands. The inside of his palms were scratched, a little layer of blood covering them. The guilt immediately fell onto Peter’s shoulders. He knew the signs. His palms, the red in his eyes, his messed-up hair, the silence of his team and the comforting hand on Tony’s shoulder from Rhodey. He had a panic attack. All because of Peter. “I’m sorry, Mr Stark,” Peter finally said. He stood up, his legs wobbling. 

Tony rushed forward, supporting the kid. “I’m afraid that sorry just isn’t going to cut it, Petey.” He took the kid’s shoulder in his hands and pulled him around, so they were looking into each other’s eyes. “I can’t lose you, kid. Do you understand?” 

Peter nodded, his eyes welling up with tears. He was pulled into an embrace from Tony, the man’s squeezing harder than he ever had. “I-I understand,”

“I love you,” He whispered in Peter’s ear, low enough so that only the kid’s super hearing could hear it. 

“I love you too,” Peter whispered, in the same volume. 

Peter went home that evening with strict rules to not go out patrolling. He was about to go to sleep before school but decided that he needed to shower after the mission. He turned the water on and went to step in. However, he immediately flinched back. As soon as his arm touched the water, his mind was back underneath the water. His back hit the nearby wall, his breathing quick and fast. He clenched his fists. He let the shower fall, let the water droplets fall onto the shower floor. He knew May was outside in the living room, waiting for him to be done. He tried again to step forward.

The water hit his hair. He took a deep breath as the water hit his back. His eyes shut as the water hit him, trying not to remember the fear he had underneath the waves. The water in his throat, around his face, everywhere. He clasped at his throat. He coughed, tried to forget about it all. The water felt like it was drowning him. He collapsed to the floor, putting his head in his knees. He couldn’t even tell the tears were falling. 

When he got out of the shower, only moments later, his hands were shaking faster than they ever had before. He stared in the steam-up mirror where he couldn’t even see his reflection. He stood just stood there, the old tears falling to the floor, for twenty minutes. The shower was still running yet the only thing that took him out of his spell was the harsh knock on the bathroom door.

“Peter?” May called, “Stop wasting the water!”

“Yes May,” He said, scared of how small his voice sounded. 

Peter turned the shower off, dried himself and got into his pyjamas that he brought into the bathroom with him. May was sat waiting in the living room, but he just kept walking past her and towards his bedroom. He sat on the bottom half of his bunk bed and stared at the window, his hands still shaking from before.

How could he be afraid of water? He couldn’t be, he told himself. It was just the pain from the wounds on his arms from the fight, that was all. That’s all it could be. He tucked himself under the covers, his head hitting the pillow. He pretended that he was asleep as May walked into see where he had gone. He felt the kiss to his forehead, the flick of the light switch and the door closing. As soon as the light’s turned off, he panicked. It reminded of when he lost consciousness, the helplessness as he almost stopped breathing, his sight leaving. He sat up in his bed, breathing heavily. He grabbed the Spiderman suit from his bag and threw the mask on, hoping it would help with how overwhelmed he felt. 

Tony was sat in his lab when the alert came through that Peter was talking to Karen. He sighed. The kid had only been gone from the compound for a total of five hours. He had managed to disobey Tony’s direct orders in a record amount of time. He told Friday to connect to the suit so he could find out where Peter had gone, so he could track him down and tell him off. When the audio connected, he tilted his head; he was confused. 

Peter’s was crying into the mask. He couldn’t focus on the lit-up screen that Karen presented in front of him. His vision was blurry as his heartbeat at a rate he didn’t know possible. His head hurt, the sound of his heart filling his ears. His hands were shaking, he didn’t notice Tony’s voice in the mask. He wanted to get away from the feeling but all he could remember was the way his body moved in the ocean. He fell onto the floor, gripping at the rug on his floor in the darkness; he needed something to focus on (Tony taught him that). 

Tony listened to the harsh breathing. He called an armour without thinking, flying with the most force towards the Parker’s apartment. The kid’s window was wide open, letting him fly straight in. He stepped out of the armour and put on the nearest lamp, knowing Peter’s room like the back of his hand. The room lit up, making Tony frown at the sight. Peter was on the floor, the bottom half of him in his Iron Man pyjamas that he had brought for the kid as a joke. The mask was on and the kid’s small hands were holding the fluffy rug. All he could hear was crying.

“Peter?” Tony whispered, kneeling to the floor in front of Peter. “Pete, buddy,”

“Mr- Mr- Stark,” The boy whispered. He couldn’t stabilise his breathing, he tried to get up to Tony, but he failed. “I’m scared,” He cried out, more tears coming down his cheeks.

“Scared? Why are you scared, Bambino?” He said, his voice soft. He put a hand on the boy’s shoulder. “Come give me a hug,” He told him, knowing it calmed the kid from a panic attack. He hated that he had to know that he hated that the boy had panic attacks at all. 

Peter climbed up into Tony’s arms, wrapping his arms around the man’s waist. He tucked his head into the man’s shoulder. Tony’s hand came up to his head, slowly pulling the mask off. The hand moved into his curls, combing through it all slowly. “That’s it, sweetheart. Let it all out. I’ll be here for as long as you need me to be,”

Peter clutched to Tony’s body. He kept his eyes wide open, scared of the dark. It took twenty minutes of harsh crying and shaking in Tony’s arms for Peter to calm his breathing. Peter finally let himself out of Tony’s grip, sitting in front of him. He tilted his head down to his shoes, too embarrassed in what just happened to look up at his mentor/father figure. 

“Don’t be scared to talk to me,” Tony said softly, taking Peter’s hand. “I’m always here for you, remember that.” 

“I’m scared,” Peter repeated what he said earlier. “I can’t even shower, I’m too scared of the water. All I can feel is the water filling my throat, how I couldn’t breathe… Even a glass of water scares me; it makes me feel like I’m drowning,” 

“Oh Pete, I’m sorry,” Tony said. “I should’ve made sure you were okay before you left,” He added. “Trust me, kid, you’ll be okay. I’ve got some pretty good therapists that you can talk to. In fact, you should’ve been talking to them for a while. I’ve got you, Pete. I’ve got you forever, you know that.”

“I’m sorry for not listening, Mr Stark,” Peter whimpered, his eyes still focused on the stray fluff near his desk. He didn’t dare to make eye contact. “I just wanted you to be proud of me and t-then I almost drowned and its all I can think of. I-If you weren’t there than I’d be dead and-and,”

“But I was there, kid. I always will be.” Tony told him with a frown on his face. The hand that he was using to hold Peter’s fell from the grip, moving to cup his jaw. He turned his face gently so that he’d face Tony’s gaze. “What you’re experiencing is completely normal for people who’ve gone through near death experiences, kid. Trust me, I’ve been through it. It probably won’t pass soon, maybe ever, but we’ll learn to live around it.”

For weeks Peter couldn’t shower properly without having a panic attack on the Parker’s tiled bathroom. He avoided the school’s showers, leading to some bad bullying. He just couldn’t do it. Ned knew something was up, he always did, but he didn’t say anything. Peter wished he could thank him, but he didn’t want to bring anything. So, when Peter finally had a shower without one tear falling, he called Tony as soon as he was done. He was embarrassed to be so excited about it, but Tony matched his excitement. It was a long road coming but Peter knew that was his family’s help, he’d be able to get through anything.


End file.
